Chris Chilton. The Greatest Tiger Ever?

[Wilko79]

I know most people on here will say Dean Windass is the greatest Hull City player of all time and I get that because of the Wembley goal. But I want to make the case for Chris Chilton.
Over 190 goals for Hull City. That record has stood for over fifty years and I don't think anyone is ever going to beat it. He was a proper old fashioned centre forward, big and strong but with more skill than people gave him credit for. The partnership between him and Ken Wagstaff in the late 60s was apparently something special to watch.
I never saw him play because it was before my time but my grandad talked about Chilton like he was a god. He said the whole team used to just get the ball forward to Chilton because they knew he'd do something with it. In an era when Hull City were stuck in the lower divisions he was the one bright spot that gave fans a reason to keep turning up.
There's a statue of him outside the MKM now which is well deserved. But I feel like younger fans don't really know who he was or what he did for this club. 190 goals. Let that sink in. In an era of terrible pitches, brutal defending, and none of the sports science that modern players have.
So what do we think? Chilton or Windass for the greatest Tiger ever? Or is there someone else in the conversat
ion?

 

[BoothferryBoy]

It's Windass for me purely because of the emotion of what that goal meant. But if we're talking about sustained quality over a long period then yeah Chilton is probably the answer. 190 odd goals is insane for any club let alone one that was in the lower divisions for most of his career. My old man saw him play and always said he was the best player he ever watched in a Hull shirt. Wagstaff and Chilton together apparently had this almost telepathic understanding. Would love to have seen it.

 

[HessleRoad_Tiger]

Chilton for ability, Windass for what he meant to the club and the city. Both legends, different reasons. The fact that Chilton's record has stood this long tells you everything. Nobody in the modern era has even come close and with the way football works now with players moving every couple of years nobody ever will. He was a one club man in an era when that actually meant something.